Vilar de Lima

The book analyses the reception of the death of Father Cícero Romão Batista, considering the poetic productions of the Brazilian Cantadores and Cordelistas. The narratives of the popular poets are understood in their dimension as pamphlet-epitaphs. The narrative model takes the form of verse, following a pattern of rhyme and metre practised by the poets who produce the poetic genre. There is a process of deification of the charismatic leader of the Northeast who overcomes the many contradictions linked to his historical journey. The death of the religious character (Father Cícero Romão Batista) is presented as a kind of transmutation portal between the earthly and heavenly planes, expanding the priest’s powers. Death institutes qualities that can only be presented to the deceased, even though he is a recognised religious leader in the north-east of Brazil, after his death. The poem emphasises prophecies, miracles and holiness as characteristics that establish a biography of the religious man that imposes itself on the other historical practices of his life. It is Padre Cícero’s presence in Juazeiro do Norte-CE, in itself, that establishes the city as a place of faith and as a promoter of salvation, fuelling the pilgrimages.